fighting, studded with precious stones, was captured.

William, of Norse blood and pirate traditions, landed in England, and
brought with him bloodshed, devastation, new laws, new customs, and
new fashions.

Principal among these last was the method of shaving the hair at the
back of the head, which fashion speedily died out by reason of the
parlous times and the haste of war, besides the utter absurdity of the
idea. Fashion, however, has no sense of the ridiculous, and soon
replaced the one folly by some other extravagance.

William I. found the Saxons very plainly dressed, and he did little to
alter the masculine mode.

He found the Saxon ladies to be as excellent at embroidery as were
their Norman sisters, and in such times the spindle side was content
to sit patiently at home weaving while the men were abroad ravaging
the country.

William was not of the stuff of dandies. No man could draw his bow; he
helped with his own hands to clear the snowdrift on the march to
Chester. Stark and fierce he was, loving the solitudes of the
woods and the sight of hart and hind.

[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF WILLIAM I. (1066-1087)

Cloak buckled at the shoulder. Leather thongs crossed on his legs.
Shoes of leather. Tunic fitting to his body like a jersey.]

When some kind of order was restored in England, many of the Saxons
who had fled the country and gone to Constantinople came back,
bringing with them the Oriental idea of dress. The Jews came with
Eastern merchandise into England, and brought rich-coloured stuffs,
and as these spread through the country by slow degrees, there came a
gradual change in colour and material, and finer stuffs replaced the
old homespun garments.

The Jews were at this time very eminent as silk manufacturers and
makers of purple cloth. The Britons had been very famous for their
dyed woollen stuffs. Boadicea is said to have worn a tunic of
chequered stuff, which was in all probability rather of the nature of
Scotch plaids.

The tunics worn by the men of this time were, roughly speaking, of two
kinds: those that fitted close to the body, and those that hung loose,
being gathered into the waist by a band. The close-fitting tunic was
in the form of a knitted jersey, with skirts reaching to the knee; it
was open on either side to the hips, and fell from the hips in loose
folds. The neck was slit open four or five inches, and had an edging
of embroidery, and the sleeves were wide,